Electoral Act 2022: Not yet uhuru but we are on the right path

The President of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari has finally assented to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. This closure did not come easy, considering that the Nigerian President is recorded to have refused assent to five previous Electoral Act Amendment Bills. Certainly, many will say that this is not a good democratic credential to emulate. Nevertheless, some ray of hope finally came. The Electoral Act, 2022, is a marked improvement from the previous Act. The landmark provisions will hopefully restore Nigerians’ confidence in the electoral system and eventually culminate in ensuring mass participation in our elections; which is a sure way to weed out the misfits in our political system. Let’s look at some of the novel provisions. They are:

1. Sections 29 (5), (6) and 84(11) and (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 delisted the jurisdiction of State High Courts and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from the list of Courts that can hear and determine any pre-election dispute. In addition to that, locus standi to institute pre-election cases has now been restricted to aspirants within the same political party. Thus, members of the public or members of opposition parties have no right to challenge a candidate that submitted false information or document to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).
2. The new Electoral Act stipulates that political parties must conduct primaries and submit their list of candidates at least 180 days before the general election. This will enable parties to prepare early for the general elections and thusly, reduce heating up the system unnecessarily.
3. INEC, unlike before, now has the power to review election results declared under duress. Recall, that in the past where returning officers were forced to declare results, some at gun points, INEC was handicapped in nullifying such declared results.
4. It is now mandatory that funds required by INEC to prepare and conduct general elections must be released at least one year before the election.
5. The total number of accredited voters will now become one of the factors to be considered by election tribunals in determining over-voting.
6. Special provisions and care now available for persons living with disabilities and of special needs.
7. The Electoral Act now backs the use of smart card readers and any other voter accreditation technology that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deploy. No more manual accreditation at polling booths.
8. Political parties reserve the power to conduct a primary election to replace a candidate who died during an election.
9. INEC now has the statutory power to transmit election results electronically. Hopefully, this will be a goodbye to ballot snatching and the usual violence associated with it.
10. Early commencement of campaigns. Election campaigns are to start at least 150 days to the election day and end 24 hours before the election.

The culture of indiscipline and not playing by the rules is common with most of the political parties. Godfatherism plays a major destructive role in the management of the affairs of the political parties and the conduct of their primaries. In most cases the nominees of the chief executives of the states are imposed on the parties as candidates for election, leaving the ordinary party members helpless. This is so, because it is very easy for candidates of a governor to win primaries since most of the voting delegates are political appointees of the governors or persons elected majorly through the instrumentality of the governors. Therefore, section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022 came on a timely rescue mission. The section stipulates that anyone holding a political office – Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Chairmen and Members of Boards and others – must resign from their official positions before they can be eligible to participate in the electoral process either as a candidate or as a delegate. It has been contended that section 84(12) is unconstitutional. I disagree. President Buhari has also urged the National Assembly to amend the said section. I urge the National Assembly not to.